Public health refers to organized efforts, on part of government, as well as non government organizations, bodies, communities, as well as individuals, along with the society as a whole, in prevention of diseases, improving life span and maintaining over all health of the nation. As it is, public health plays a very vital role for the well being of a nation.

In fact, it also plays a very crucial role in the economic development of the nation as well. The importance of public health can be further explained by way of an example. Let us assume a scenario, where there is a serious outbreak of an epidemic, say plague. In such a scenario, a large number of people get affected, leading to serious burden on the health insurance companies. Also, when a person is down with plague, he/she can not be expected to do his job. This would result in considerable shortfall in manpower supply.

It is due to these reasons, that, governments all across the globe spend huge amounts of money in maintaining public health. Serious efforts are undertaken, to maintain public health by way of providing proper sanitation facilities, proper disposal of wastes and effluents (both residential as well as industrial), providing proper medical facilities, along with vaccination programs, as well as training disaster management professionals, to deal with situations, which may prove threat to the health of the public.

According to a rough estimate, the US Government spends more than $4,500 per capita on maintaining public health. The overall idea, is to prevent diseases from occurring, especially epidemics; rather than treat people after the disease has set its foot.

In United States, many organizations work in this direction, mainly being the state and local health departments. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, along with the United States Public Health Service (PHS) and the Surgeon General of the United States, form a formidable force, which is adept in dealing with any threats to public health. They work around the clock to ward off any hazards to public health.

Along with them the World Health organization, too plays a very vital role in maintenance of public health. The WHO provides grants and services, along with medical equipments, to poor nations, who can not afford to met the demands of public work, due to lack of funds, as well as lack of proper infrastructure facilities. This way, these nations are able to improve their public health standards.

Although, the history of public health dates back to a very long time, its relevance in the current scenario has grown manifolds. With a rising growth in population and rapid advancement of industrialization; the amounts of wastes, effluents and discharges (both residential and industrial) have grown up by a big margin. Proper disposal of such wastes is a major area of concern. Along with this, arrival of many new diseases, such as HIV and SAARS has posed serious threats to public health.

It is here, that the public health departments play a major role, in maintaining the health of the general public. It is to be mentioned here, that not just the government organizations, but it is our duty as well, to do our bit in maintaining public health.

Tags: public health, public health education, public health programs